Going global has no longer remained a distant dream. You might have thought of going global culturally or doing business globally. Thanks to the localization industry, it has made this dream possible. Many companies are providing translation services from this perspective. They offer their services from one language to another in order to facilitate the customer’s needs and the needs of the world. In these times, if you are thinking of running a business globally, you have all the luck to be successful. Because the digitization wave has generated many advancements in terms of technical equipment. Translation management system (TMS) is one of the results of it. It is the software engineered to meet the translation and localization process needs. Companies are developing their TMS Systems with an advanced level of enriched technical equipment in order to make their translation services to the point. This system varies from demand to demand.
A translation management system (TMS) is a system designed to streamline the process of translation and localization. Business organizations use TMS because they need to translate a large number of language assets. The need for this software has also arisen when it became difficult to manage different dialects and languages. The function of this system is not just the translation of text from one language to another. But it also helps in sustaining the brand’s image by translating the text contextual-wise.
According to modern trends, many advanced TMS are available in the market with their specialized features. TMS includes features like computer-assisted tools (CAT), machine translation, workflow automation tools, project management, and reporting, etc. The translation is obtained with the use of enriched features like machine learning. After that, professional translators review and make it contextual.
Let’s discuss some major and most important features of how to select the right TMS for translation and localization needs.
Localization is quite a complex and important process. You can not risk doing translation solely without double-checking. It can lead to disastrous results. Quality work is above all, and the quality of translation is obtained through proper channels. Your content represents your brand’s reputation in a global transaction. Definitely, low-quality results in a decrease in business growth. So, for the maintenance of quality and consistency, investing accordingly through TMS is the only choice.
Choosing the right TMS decreases room for human mistakes and speeds up the process by eliminating repetitive human tasks through an API for automation. By having the API in your TMS, your programmers can integrate all new documents into the already present I10n/ i18n workflow and use all of the translation software functions through the API.
Then these integrations will be able to download files, locate files, tag, update, or create keys. Moreover, your TMS will after the above configuration also be able to integrate with software building programs like GitHub.
Localization is not a one-way process and it also involves many stakeholders. If your business organization is going to start a large localization project, you need to consider owners, translators, software engineers, programmers, digital marketing, project managers, and language service providers based on their skills and role in the localization process. Because every software or translator doesn’t need to be suitable for your every project. It is also possible that you might have professional linguists who are able to translate German to IsiXhosa by taking all the societal, cultural, and traditional differences into account.
Have you not found it more comfortable if your translators could simply browse your website and edit the text along, rather than the process of translation going back and forth? For this, a smart Context Editor must be present in your TMS that has been designed to simplify the collaboration process for all. It allows your technical and non-technical team to work directly on websites, making them private to all beneficial information they need to improve the quality of translation more understandable for everyone who is involved.
Before selecting any TMS, in-built translation memory (TM) must be present. TM keeps all the translated data in its memory. Whenever you need to translate content, if it matches with previous strings, it will automatically get translated. Translation memory is a very essential feature of TMS because it saves time as well as money. If you are running a long-time business and need to update the client’s data on time, then there is a need to have a solid TM.
As the old saying goes, time is the most important thing that anyone can have. So, why not think of reducing the time when it comes to choosing the TMS software? Yes, efficient and advanced TMS will help you lower pressure and decrease the unnecessary number of team members. With the help of automation and optimization of workflow, you can place the resources of your translation and localization project managers for better use in acquiring new projects. If your company is dealing in the localization business, then you do not want to go back and forth from translators to programmers, from project managers to marketers, and so on. For this reason, you will need a sustainable and solid system that allows you to overcome the communication gap, and organize the communication in a consistent flow.
What if your TMS system does not have this managing feature, then you are likely to invest more time and effort in delivering your localization services.
Let’s look out for factors in choosing a TMS for business organizations.
You need to look out for localization workflows as it involves four major stakeholders whenever you go for localization. Firstly, tech team members like software developers are intrinsic partners for localization. They organize and think about the system in terms of management and scale. Then comes the project managers, they look out for productive and qualitative work and work to make the localization process more efficient and faster. Furthermore, the requirement for a marketing team that includes content writers, translators, and sales needs collaboration at every point without wasting any time. Last but not least, to streamline the process, the QA team needs to have a system to get things in the right direction. As the QA test is a must for going global, they let you understand distant views. So, understanding the needs of your company’s stakeholders is compulsory to go further.
TMS lies at the center of every localization company. Selecting a TMS is like a moment that can take you to the heights of success or hurt your business drastically. As mentioned above, TMS has some significant features and it can be customized. So, the functionality and capability of any TMS depend upon its distinct features. The best localization management platform uses a cloud-based translation management system. Its centralized translation system, customized workflow, easily manageable glossary, translation tools like translation memory, and secure SaaS system made it one of the reliable choices. TMS varies from organization to organization. So, it is vital to align your software according to the business needs.
Everything comes secondary when it comes to quality. Giving qualitative translation is the central function of the TMS. Firstly, you need to design the content type then you need software that can have a glossary and style guide.
Your TMS must be designed in a way that it should have translation glossaries. Glossaries are also known as termbases. It gives guidelines and meanings of the words to translators and reviewers that appear frequently. When the termbase is integrated into TMS, you can get access at any stage of the translation workflow instantly. Moreover, glossaries provide you with direct references for recommended usage, abbreviations, etc. For instance, MarsHub is a localization management platform that has a cloud-based TMS system with easily manageable glossaries. It is embedded to facilitate the translators during translation of the context.
Selecting the cloud-based translation management system for the localization process is the best choice for companies. Because a cloud-based system fosters collaboration and internal communication tools. As translation is not done by a single tool, it is a long process that needs continuous networking between translators, project managers, product managers, and enterprises. So, lack of communication results in slow progress in translation. Working on a single platform makes it feasible for everyone. Many companies and language service provider platforms like MarsHub are using cloud-based TMS to allow all the stakeholders to work in a feasible environment without any communication obstacles. Also, every stakeholder can track the progress, finance, time, and issues of an ongoing project. Simply put, for best results, it’s recommended to go for a collaborative translation platform.
We can not write content and let it stay as it is. It won’t work. We need continuous updates in the digital or web-based content of our company. This is where the choice of the right TMS will play its role. Using the advanced TMS is helpful in making a continuous localization workflow possible.
There are three basic questions that the owner needs to answer fully before choosing the TMS for the localization process:
Mainly, companies have various systems for managing content. But, TMS is one of the most reliable and suitable choices that is central in its true form. In TMS, all the data gets stored in different languages including with the English equivalent.
The other most important step is to scale the format of the desired content. Because most of the time, content is being created that is neither flexible nor scalable to meet the requirements of international business.
Many times, some companies miss the step that allows their content to be localized quickly and efficiently. A very important element for streamlined localization workflows is making the path easy for developers to externalize their strings. This happens by using the correct file formats like ARB, XLIFF, or YAML. For this reason, your TMS should help in making multiple formats and syncing with basic code repositories.
If you are running a global business, you will need to do various types of file formatting. Then it is important to understand whether your system will demand human lifting or be a natural adjustment to the already present tech stack.
The best translation management system depends on your requirements, budget, and desired goals. But yes, the worth-choosing TMS is a cloud-based that provides all-in-one collaboration. You need to consider your business needs and financial cost in your mind while choosing the TMS.
Conclusively, with the growing demands of business, the localization industry is also growing day by day. By every means, translation has become an important factor in order to live in this multicultural and multi-linguistic world. For this, companies are looking for the best possible technical solution to fulfill the demands of translating the content. In this regard, the selection of a translation management system is a crucial and comprehensive step. The above article has explored the various factors in choosing the right TMS. TMS System enriched with features varies from company demands to demand. The best one depends solely on your demands.
